Ja Rule is the husk-voiced gangsta-pop MC
headlining Wednesday's Roc tha Block rapstravaganza alongside
fellow hip-hop chart superstars Chingy and Nitty. Rule is a
dope-smoking, allegedly gun-toting, bona fide bad-ass - yet the
reason our interview was first postponed was because his friend and
label boss, Irv Gotti, had insisted Rule accompany him to a fashion
show in New York.

That's right - a fashion show. What has become of
Ja Rule?

The man born with the name Jeffrey Atkins laughs
heartily. Thank God.

"Me and Gotti, we gotta do fashion week," he
says. "We are new designers, you know, we got our Ervingeoffrey [as
in 'Irv and Jeffrey'] clothing line, so ... we're out there rubbing
elbows, kissing babies, man."

That doesn't sound very gangsta.

"Hey, man, sometimes gangstas do very keen
things, you know? You would understand if you was a
gangsta."

"I got court cases up the ass, man," he says,
citing them as the reason our interview was postponed twice more
before this fourth time. "But that's neither here nor there. You
know, we just got to go and vindicate my innocence on those cases.
I'd rather not talk about it. I mean, I'm sorry I even brought 'em
up."

Unprovoked, he continues: "As far as any other
thing, industry beefs and shit, you know, that shit don't really
mean nothing to me. It's all smoke and mirrors for the
public."

A "beef" is what people in hip-hop call the
conflicts between themselves and other artists. In a worst-case
scenario, these can spiral horribly out of control, as seemed to
have happened in September, 1996, and March, 1997, when feuding
rappers Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were respectively
shot dead. (The murders remain unsolved.)

Rule is referring to his beef with Eminem protege
50 Cent, right?

"Yeah, like I said, I'm not thinking about it
because these dudes don't really want beef, you know what I mean?"
he says. "What do you call these guys? Studio gangstas, studio
bangers. They 'get their gangsta on' in the studio! It's a facade
for the public. They don't really wanna mix things up.

Not in the streets. Only in the mic
booth."

Two years ago Rule made a commercially
unsuccessful album called Blood in My Eye that did little
more than violently address his issues with 50 Cent. He's back on
track with the singalong grooves and chart-friendly sounds of his
latest album, R.U.L.E.

"I had to get that off my chest, I had to express
myself," Rule says of Blood. "Now I can move on and any talk
beyond that is like, 'Yo, if you've got anything to say, come see
me.'

"R.U.L.E. is me letting the people know
that I make hit records. Know the man for the music and his
artistry. You know, I got a lot of extracurricular shit that
surrounds me. I don't want people to get caught up in all the extra
shit, I want people to just know that that's what I do: I make
great music for the people to love and enjoy."

Ja Rule loves his life. Ask him what the good
things about it are and he says without hesitation, "I got three
beautiful kids, a beautiful wife - that's the top."

Then why would he put his life, and thus his
family's, in jeopardy by getting into high-stakes ego battles with
other, possibly gun-crazy artists?

Rule is often dismissed as a "Tupac wannabe". But
does he really want to end up like Shakur?

"Life is life and death is death," the
28-year-old says. "We all live to die, you understand? What you do
in between makes up your mark in life. So what I've done in between
of life and death so far, you know, I haven't done bad. And I'm not
finished.

"But I live in God's hands. Even when people are
killed or people die early, you must understand, God planned that,
too. I don't look at death as a thing to fear, you know? I look at
death as a thing that's naturally gonna happen.

Kinda like shitting and farting."

Even if someone doesn't kill Ja Rule, he's not
going to be around much longer. The MC has a completely new project
- and persona - in the works.

"I'm about to put together a two-album set that's
real crazy," he says.

"Y'all may get it, I dunno, maybe end of the
year, maybe early 2006, but this is what I'm about to put forth:
exit Ja Rule, enter the new world ...

Enter Loki. When y'all get the albums y'all will
understand what's going on."

Can he give us any hints?

"Well, it'll be Ja Rule's last album ... 'cause
Loki has his first album coming out shortly after that. Ha ha
ha!

"It's gonna get crazy, we're gonna have some fun!
When you deal with artists ... you get to see certain sides of an
artist and other sides you don't get to see. I'm a bring it all to
the table for y'all."

Isn't Loki the Norse god of mischief?

"Oh, man, that's the angel of death," he says.
"That's the dude y'all ain't seen yet. You're gonna f---ing love
the shit out of him!"